Together not together
by Arydubhe
Summary: Lin's birth came to Toph's life totally unexpected, but now she's doing all her best to raise her happily, with the help of her buddy Sokka. How is the friendship between the earthbender and the Water Tribe Councilman going to change? -I'm basically explaining why Tokka ended as it did, with Toph and Sokka living apart, the former with a broken family the latter with none
1. The Melon Lady

_**Premise:** I'm basically trying to explain why- in may opinion- Tokka ship did not develop in a smooth way, ending up as we all know, with the two of them split apart, Sokka alone as the Southern Water Tribe Chief and Toph roaming around the world, deeply in conflict with her two daugters._  
 _Starting from Lin's birth -but with intrusions in the past - I'll provide you all the missing moments the cartoons didn't give us. Some will be funny, some will be painful...I hope I'll be able tro give you a plausible version of what may have appened to those two. But no more blabbering. Enjoy!_

 **CHAPTER ONE: THE MELON LADY**

120 AG* (see note below) - 10 days before Lin's birth

"I am the Melon Lord! Muahahahahah" shouted Toph in the middle of the kitchen, raising her hands towards the ceiling and starting to laugh creepily.

Sokka was having breakfast, sitting at the table of Toph's house, a slice of bread topped with marmalade squeezed in his mouth at his friend's assertion and he freezed in that position. Sokka blinked towards Toph twice in search for an explanation. She had suddenly dug that idea out of nowhere. For a moment, Sokka asked himself if the 31-years-old friend, now Chief of Republic City Police, was eventually going crazy.

"That's a story of long ago" he just ended up saying "Why did you resume it?"

"Yeah, right- allowed Toph -it's pretty incorrect now. Maybe I'd better say that I am the Melon _Lady_ "

And saying that, she pinpointed both her indexes at her huge rounded womb. Actually, it _did_ seem like a melon.

Sokka understood the joke and started laughing "Ahahahha you nailed it! Nice wordplay Toph, Ahhahahaah".

Toph had been pregnant for more than 8 months now. She had become very large, growing up difficulties in managing the house, even simple moves had become extremely complex. That was the reason why Sokka agreed to stay overnight at her place, the reason why he was there so early in the morning. He had offered himself to help her anyway he could in these last days of her pregnancy. The deliver day was about to come and none of her friends felt at ease at the idea to let her handle it alone. Unfortunately, they were all busy for one reason or another and the only one who seemed to be perfectly free -except for work duties as the Water Tribe Councilman- had revealed to be Sokka. The man accepted kindly. He was really willing to help Toph.

To see her so high spirited in the morning made Sokka in a good mood, to be true; he was glad to see her old friends smiling. It was actually _relieving_. Toph needed a long time to finally accept her new status in the previous months, or better to say, to convince herself she would do great with a daughter and all. Despite she was going to be a single mother. Despite she was not fit for family and this child came totally unexpected. Despite she was blind. A doubtful and scary Toph was something Sokka bet he'd never seen in his entire life. The word loved to prove him wrong even on _that_ topic.

Sokka had felt so sorry seeing her in such a miserable state. Fragile. In denial. Alone and lost. Something Toph always hated to show to the other, she was eventually needed to expose. All her pain, all her suffering…and she did a great job to endure everything. To overcome and accept it all. Sokka was so proud of her. She indeed was the strongest woman he knew.

Now, Toph joking around her pregnancy was the better sign of her renewed hope she was carrying along with her. No need to cheer up her anymore. _She_ was again the one to cheer others up.

-Notes-

*In each chapter, at the beginnig, I'll be providing you the date in wich the events occur to help you cronologically collocate them.

-Author's corner-

Hello! I'm an Italian fanficion "writer" and that's my first attempt to write a story in English! I hope you'll enjoy my first work. I hope I didn't make too many grammar mistakes...if so, I'm sorry. I'll be glad to receive any advice from you in order to improve and maybe give you better stories. I'm still not accustomed to this site so I hope I didn't mess up with anything about the formal aspects of this story...

There will be five more chapters at least -but they'll probably be many more and much longer than this. I have already written down many of them, but I prefer to publish them separately instead of giving you a oneshot long-fic.

Thank you, you all, for reading!


	2. Sofa will be ok

**CHAPTER 2: SOFA WILL BE OK**

120 AG - 8 days after Lin's birth

"Here we are!" Sokka popped out of nowhere, bringing a huge sack in his shoulder. "Nice to see you Toph! Where's the cute little baby? Where's the star of uncle eyes? Where's she? There she is! – he screamed approaching the cradle the baby was sleeping in- Watch at her, watch at HER! Oh, gosh, she's so beautiful! See, Lin, I've brought presents to you, something from Katara and Aang…but hey, watch this, this thing was mine when I was about your age!"

Sokka extracted a water tribe rattle from a pocket and started moving it up and down to make it produce sounds. He was speaking such in a rush that even Toph didn't dare interrupt his enthusiastic flow of words nor reminding him that she couldn't see her unfortunately. She was sure that if he were a dog he would probably be wagging his tail in this moment.

Toph smiled at the idea.

Sokka had entered Toph's house - he used the copy of the key Toph entrusted to him some days before Lin's birth- like a tornado, throwing things all around, placing objects here and there as he advanced room by room. Not a problem for the owner of the house: Toph was pretty well-known for the mess she used to leave it in. She didn't even need better greetings. While she was in the hospital, Toph agreed with Sokka and the others that she'd need help for a little more time in order to get used to her new life rhythm, and Sokka volunteered to go to stay directly with her for a while. He had no family to take care after all and his daily scheduled work allowed him to take a bit of paperwork at home if needed. Plus, he had already done it in the days before the childbirth and many of his things were already at Toph's place.

"I've practiced a lot with Katara's children…and they're quite demanding- as my sister is- so I'm well trained…" he assured Toph of his offering in the hospital, gaining a painful -and deserved- punch from Katara.

And Toph didn't find any reason to tell him not to stay for a little while more. After all, they put so much effort to make her accept the help they seemed so eager to give her. Sokka even proved to be really a great help. And he was planning to do no less now.

So today was the day when she was supposed to return home and Sokka to move at her place.

And now that Toph was in front of him she could only be happy. She'll certainly need help and, judging from his present mood, Sokka was still willing to do as much as he could, and even more. Plus, she enjoyed that kind of happy-go-lucky Sokka. She had always appreciated and sided with his sorta foolish nonsense. Her daughter even seemed to like him.

"Welcome meathead chief!- she finally greeted him with a laugh, placing all those thought aside- You were so quiet I didn't notice you entering the house at all!" made fun of him Toph.

Sokka turned and finally seemed to pay really attention to her. "Ah-Ah! Funny as ever… - he mocked her before switching to the practical side- I've brought many things, but I'll bring even more next week. This round I'll be ok sleeping on the sofa as I did before. I've planned everything from this day 'till next month"

"Just how I could imagine, plan-guy -Toph surrendered at his will- D'ya really think we'll have time to sleep?"

"Of course, not. That's why the sofa will do great!"

That was _so_ Sokka. Toph sighed, giving him a shiny glare with her blind milky eyes.

"Thank you, snoozle. I really appreciate it" she said, smiling with all her heart.

"It's my pleasure, I've told you"

Toph was really grateful to him. Nobody obliged his friend to do anything for her, not especially give her a hand in dealing with a newborn child who was not his own. But there he was, throwing happiness and cheerfulness all around him, doing his best for her and the baby girl in the cradle. Sokka was really a blessing to her, he was a blessing back then where they were just a bunch of kids and he was still now, that they were all grown up, to her messed up family.

"How long can you stay?" she asked while helping him unpacking his things.

"As much as you and Lin need" he replied, his voice vanishing when his head entered in a giant backpack laying in an angle.

He didn't leave that house until Lin was six.

-Author's corner-

Hello! Thanks to be here again! I hope you enjoyed this small chapter as well :3 I'll be pleased to see any comment or receive any advice. See you in the next chapter :P


	3. Boomerang Spoon

**CHAPTER THREE: BOOMERANG SPOON**

120 AG - 6 months

"Boomerang is coming! Woooh" was saying Sokka, all dazzled as he once used to be before a battle, swinging a spoon around the kitchen.

He was feeding Lin with his strategy of transforming the spoon in a boomerang, a solution that Toph, had to admit, proved to work really well with her firstborn. At first, she thought it was just an idiotic idea. But Sokka really proved to be the _idea man_ in the past, and he definitely still was.

"Open your mouth darling, we don't want boomerang to crash"

And Lin did, spread out her jaws and started chewing the porridge without any complaints.

"Ah-ahh-ii" a sound that clearly meant that she was ready for the next flight- I mean, spoon.

It was quite funny to see the two of them playing that way. Toph couldn't see anything of this of course, but she could imagine it perfectly, enjoying the scene in her own way. Lin was laughing brightly, with her baby jiggles. Sokka was amused too, she could clearly feel it from his vibrations, his hearth pounding with pride and excitement everytime the little girl swallowed a portion of food. No doubt Sokka would look like an idiot while doing this sort of game, but as long as Lin was eating, it was fine to her. Not that Sokka playing silly wasn't enough to bestow complete amusement on her.

"One day she will spit everything on your face, I warn you" exclaimed Toph teasing him.

"Why would that happen? She looooves booooomerang!"

"Yeah but you know, you were once the one who said it: boomerangs always come back, sooner or later"

"You lack faith in boomerangs" Sokka sounded offended.

" _You_ believe in them too much"

And so it was.

Toph hadn't finished her sentence that fifth boomerang-spoon really ricocheted. On Sokka's clothes. When Lin decided to spit it with a clear burbling sound. Enough for Toph to understand what have just happened.

"Ahah! Maybe you should have picked the image of the flyin' bison entering a cave" uttered Toph trying to control her laughs.

Sokka was totally disappointed, some porridge dropping down even from his cheek: "I hate you, Toph! You mislead my boomerang!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAAH!"

-Author's corner-

Hi again! I know that chapter is painfully short . But I promise you the next one will be much longer. I love the idea of Sokka doing his best to make Lin eat...and I can clearly figure in my mind the image of him jog along the room with a spoon full of food totally looking stupid Ahahah


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